Our Boys

 

It’s been 3 weeks at Acacia Tree and it’s taken far less time than that to fall hopelessly in love with our boys. They are simply gorgeous with their smooth coffee-coloured skin and deep chocolate eyes, and each one with his own little distinct personality. Em and I truly long to adopt them—2 in particular—and can only pray over them as we rock them and cuddle them and bathe them and feed them and play with them and love them. We still have only 4 little ones at the moment, and wonder every day if today might be the day we meet another sweet baby coming to us in need, like John Mark did on our first day…

Speaking of which, John Mark, our littlest man at approx. 6 weeks, is growing so perfectly healthy and strong with Acacia Tree’s TLC! Now when I burp him on my shoulder he’s lifting his little head with his strong neck. His smile is to die for. And his newborn baby cuddles even more so! I kiss his perfectly smooth mocha-coloured skin, caress his downy soft black curls, and pray for the man he grows up to be, knowing that I would give him a home and be his mommy in a heartbeat if I could…

Jonathan, our oldest little man, has just reached a high enough weight to start his ARVs, but at 4 years old, he’s still only about the size of a 2 year old. His Autism sometimes means he’s not in a mood for any physical contact, but then other moments he just cannot be cuddled enough. It warms my heart EVERY TIME he’s in the mood for cuddles and just wraps his arms around my neck and lays his head on my shoulder!

 

Isaac (Zac) is the strongest and farthest developed of our boys and at nearly 15 months, he’s so close to walking! He is uncommonly handsome with his great big expressive eyes and ready dimpled smile. He has very long limbs, like a proper African man. And, my favourite discovery, Zac LOVES kisses :) And attention… We have just discovered that the family from Ohio working on adopting him have named him Henry, so we’re trying to get him used to his new name by calling him Henry-Zac!

Moses, whom has been affectionately nicknamed MoMo because it just suits him, has charmed his little way right into my and Emily’s hearts without effort. He is more darling than I can attempt to describe! Because he was extremely malnourished, his muscles are still very weak at nearly 19 months so he has the mobility of a much younger baby and cuddles like one too. He also has a massive round belly which he loves to pat. His favourite mode of communication is to wave across the room to one person, then the next, then the next—he’s an equal-opportunity waver. He also likes to imitate anything anyone else is doing, so he now attempts to snap his fingers, and blow kisses with the “mwah!” sound (nearly as cute as the little wave!), and shake his pointer finger at someone when they’re being naughty—though he hilariously always points it at himself :). His favourite thing is leaning back his head (which is a bit too heavy for his little neck) and having his throat tickled :) Just today he popped out a new trick when he began taking my hand and kissing it at the knuckles, just like a little royal prince to a princess! The cuteness of this child’s winsome personality cannot possibly be summed up in a paragraph. I just adore him!!

We are trying not to think yet about what it means when we leave here in 10 days time...